FILM REVIEW; Never Too Late to Have an Adolescence

Can you sue yourself for plagiarism? If so, then ''Old School'' has presented Ivan Reitman with a case. This sloppy, dumb, though occasionally funny comedy is so derivative of ''Animal House'' (and, more specifically, its children) that it's like one of those by-the-numbers imitative movies Homer Simpson is so obsessed with.

Mr. Reitman, best known as a director (''Ghostbusters,'' ''Ghostbusters 2''), also produced ''Animal House,'' which itself parodied the conventions of the genre, though it raised the stakes with a kind of ruthless bad taste that was actually refreshing. ''School,'' on which he served as an executive producer, is like a half-empty glass of Coke that's been sitting out for a couple of days; sure, it looks like cola, but one sip tells you exactly what's missing.

With ''School,'' which opens nationwide today, the director Todd Phillips has made a sort of de facto comedy sequel to his documentary ''Frat House,'' which won the Sundance 1998 Grand Jury Prize. He comes even closer than Mr. Reitman to stealing from himself.

Luke Wilson stars as nice-guy Mitch, whose life is run through a Cuisinart when he comes home early from a conference to find that his girlfriend, Heidi (Juliette Lewis), has been treating herself to a sexual smorgasbord when he's not home. Nursing his wounds, he moves into a house near the Harrison University campus, where he spent his college years. A buddy, a home-electronics mogul named Beanie (Vince Vaughn), persuades Mitch to throw a wild party -- a gig so off the hook that their newly married and newly sober buddy Frank (Will Ferrell) sends all the wheels off his wagon participating.

But the party has further repercussions. The dean of Harrison, Pritchard (Jeremy Piven) -- whom the guys humiliated when they were in school together -- issues an ultimatum. He claims the house where his old tormenters have taken refuge is campus property and gives Mitch and his boys a week to get out. Faster than you can ask, ''How could that happen?'' Beanie comes up with the idea of turning their haven into a fraternity house -- and the invitees are part of an extremely egalitarian program.

It's such a ''nonexclusive community brotherhood,'' as Beanie puts it, that the pledges don't have to be Harrison students, or, in the case of the 80-ish Blue (Patrick Cranshaw), younger than the school.

This extremely flimsy plot turn allows Mitch to stay in his house, and lets the stars party as if it were 1999. The women in the cast -- Ellen Pompeo, Leah Remini and Perrey Reeves -- are mostly delegated to standing around and shaking their heads at the antics. Though Ms. Reeves, as Frank's new bride, Marissa, gets an in-home lesson from an instructor (Andy Dick) that shows she's capable of liberated thinking, too. And Elisha Cuthbert, as drolly delicious as the cream filling in a Twinkie, hijacks the handful of scenes she has.

Mr. Wilson seems as put-upon before his girlfriend betrays his trust as he does afterward. The movie falls mostly on the shoulders of Mr. Vaughn and Mr. Ferrell -- or, rather, they claim it. Mr. Vaughn's coercive cool gives a cubic centimeter of angry polish to Beanie, although his lowlife charm may be nothing new, especially to those who've seen ''Swingers.'' In fact, it's welcome, and his way with a line still works. (He could be one of the hostile frat-boy Visigoths from Mr. Phillips's documentary.) With his aging baby-faced insolence, the married Beanie doesn't have a single good word for relationships or marriage, though he's very careful to keep his kids from overhearing profanity when he brings them along on his constant visits to Mitch's place.

But the movie, such as it is, belongs to Mr. Ferrell. He sacrifices Frank's dignity ounce by ounce, and Frank hasn't much to begin with. Just when you think he's utterly bereft of it, he finds yet another way to lower himself further. As with his work on several seasons of ''Saturday Night Live,'' playing everything from Alex Trebek to the Cheerleader to Neil Diamond, Mr. Ferrell uses his hilarious, anxious zealotry to sell the part. ''It feels so good when it hits your lips,'' Frank happily quivers as he shotguns a beer; he's the essence of the geeky white guy trying to pinpoint his inner hipster.

Frank is most fulfilled when he's hurtling into self-destruction, as is Blue, who gets a chance to finish the off-key version of ''Dust in the Wind'' Frank started. Blue looks nearly old enough to be an original member of Kansas.

There's a great deal of echoing going on in ''Old School.'' Mr. Piven, who played the upstart outsider in the 1994 campus comedy ''PCU,'' has crossed over into playing the stiff martinet. And a well-lubricated wrestling party -- literally so, since the coed opponents square off in a tub full of K-Y jelly -- feels lifted from ''Stripes,'' which Mr. Reitman directed. The nexus between Mr. Reitman and Mr. Phillips is joined when Seann William Scott -- who's both a Reitman (''Evolution'') and Phillips (''Road Trip'') alumnus -- turns up in a scarily real mullet coif as an animal trainer.

''Old School'' is so breezy it could be a late-night talk show, especially when Craig Kilborn, of ''The Late Late Show,'' sidles into camera range as a particularly loathsome competitor to Mitch. Mr. Kilborn takes his Kilby persona to new highs -- or is it lows?

And the imperturbable Snoop Dogg drops science in a cameo as himself. Aided by Warren G and Archbishop Don Magic Juan of ''American Pimp,'' he looks as cooled out as he did when he accepted the High Times's Man of the Year award.

By the time James Carville, as himself, joins the fun, you realize an era has passed. It used to be a coup to get outrageous, unexpected cameos -- now, they're expected. A corrupting smugness has set in to these comedies. What would really be old school is for ''Old School'' to surprise us.

''Old School'' is rated R (Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian). It has free-wheeling frat-house humor, unapologetic strong language, sexuality, drug and alcohol abuse, and behavior that would get fraternities kicked off most college campuses in the contiguous United States.

OLD SCHOOL

Directed by Todd Phillips; written by Mr. Phillips and Scot Armstrong, based on a story by Court Crandall, Mr. Phillips and Mr. Armstrong; director of photography, Mark Irwin; edited by Michael Jablow; music by Theodore Shapiro; production designer, Clark Hunter; produced by Daniel Goldberg, Joe Medjuck and Mr. Phillips; executive producers: Ivan Reitman and Tom Pollock, released by Dreamworks Pictures. Running time: 91 minutes. This film is rated R.